| Bundeswehr to award decoration for bravery for the first time
The German Bundeswehr will honour soldiers' acts of bravery for the first time in its history. Chancellor Angela Merkel herself will hand over the awards according to a press release of the federal government. In view of the fact that Merkel is in the mid of an election campaign where she wants to avoid Afghanistan-related debates at all costs, this is an interesting and important development. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily reports that four soldiers would receive the award for their service after a Taliban attack on 20th of October 2008. On this day, German soldiers were looking for a group of Taliban which had launched a rocket attack on the German camp in the provincial capital. When they were busy with securing two seized rockets, a suicide bomber sneaked up on their "Mungo"-vehicle and blew himself up, killing the German paratroopers Patrick Behlke and Roman Schmidt as well as five Afghan children. The "Mungo" caught fire due to ammunition storages which exploded again and again. At the risk of their lives, the soldiers were able to rescue a seriously wounded soldier immediately and stood by another one trapped inside the burning vehicle. (...)
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